


together forever

by rantarous



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Comfort, Confessions, F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-13
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-11 18:57:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20551094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rantarous/pseuds/rantarous
Summary: Lucy doesn't understand where they stand anymore and Natsu clarifies everything once more.





	together forever

❋❋❋

Lucy doesn’t know where she stands at this point. It’s as if she’s going around in circles, having no idea on how to get herself out of this maze she hates.

Sometimes, she's sure she receives signals from Natsu, and when she’s positive he harbours some sort of feelings for her by scrutinising his mannerism, the certainty she holds onto with confidence ends up plummeting like a meteor once he does something that has her reconsider it completely.

Lucy sighs, feeling the exhaustion bleed through her bones as she rolls the drink in her hand.

"Hey," Mirajane begins and leans over the counter. “Is something bothering you? You don't seem very spirited today.”

Lucy shakes her head, forcing a smile. “I am fine, just tired a little.”

“If there's something in your mind, just know that I am always here to lend you an ear.”

Lucy smiles and nods her head, grateful. She tries to take a sip from her beverage before Natsu maneuvers around her rear. He hooks his fingers around it, successfully wrapping his hand around the drink.

“Why were you ignoring me for?" He asks, pouting, and presses the brim of the glass against his lips. "I was calling you and everything.”

"It's not that I was ignoring you, it's because I didn’t hear you.”

Natsu raises a brow, but he doesn't say anything as he proceeds to occupy the vacant seat next to her. He takes a huge swing from the beverage before he sets it down in front of her on the table and Lucy grabs it, fairly annoyed, but also flushed, the hairs on her skin standing up once she felt his arm brush against her own when he shifted in his seat.

“Hey Mira,” Natsu starts. “Do you have a job for us today?”

“I do, but…” She trails.

“But what?” Natsu asks, perking a brow.

“I don’t think Lucy feels like going on a job today.” Mira comments, glancing over at Lucy before she looks away. "Unless you want to go by yourself?"

“What?” He responds. He then turns around to face Lucy and places a hand on her shoulder, holding onto it with a firm grip, but also with so much care and tenderness that it ends up making her heart rattle against its cage. “Are you not okay?” He asks, brows furrowing even more than they initially were.

“Maybe let her rest for the day?” She suggests, and Lucy notices her eyes flickering the tiniest bit in hope, sparkling. “I will give the both of you the best job there is tomorrow once you come back energised.”

Natsu agrees with a nod, patting Lucy on the back in comfort. “Let’s go Luce, let’s get some rest.”

"Since when were you tired?"

“I am not,” he explains and leaps from his seat. “But if it’s a job that pays a lot, I will need to rest too. Right, Happy?"

“Aye sir!” Happy announces from the background as he leaves his table to join the two. “Let’s go!”

❋❋❋

Lucy takes her shoes off in the foyer and trudges across her house before she plummets on the couch. Natsu follows suit, flopping down next to her with a content sigh and hangs one arm over the couch, slouching. “Do you have anything in the fridge?”

Lucy gives him a tired look, baffled as she thinks about his unmatched appetite. “Did you not just eat a bunch of different plates two hours ago?”

He laughs and rubs his stomach, sighing. “I guess I have,” he mutters and stands up, extending a hand out. But Lucy doesn’t take it, giving him a look of confusion instead, which is a deliberate act, of course, to initiate something.

"What is it?" She feigns ignorance.

Natsu has a trickle of sweat making an appearance across his forehead. His fingers twitches and she knows that means he's on the verge of returning it back.

But Lucy continues to remain silent, raising a brow, silently asking him to be more elaborate to get his point across. But knowing how terrible he can be with his communication skills, she very much doubts so.

“Didn’t cha say you were tired?” He finally blurs out.

“I did say I was tired,” Lucy clarifies, stretching her arms as she fights back a yawn. “But it’s too early to sleep, and there's something I want to write before I do.”

Since he's still standing above her, Natsu crouches down to take a better look, and examines her face with his lips tilted to the side. He was unconvinced. “Hah?” He drops, the voice he uses clearly elucidating he doesn’t believe an ounce of what she said. “But you look horrible, ya know?” He continues, brutally honest. “You look like you haven’t slept in years.”

Lucy shrieks and shoves him away, but not too strongly, and presses both of her palms against her cheeks. Natsu barely budges however, and laughs at her reaction like he always does. “Sometimes, it's best to just keep some thoughts to yourself Natsu.” Lucy huffs, cheeks flushing. “Like this one, for example.”

He grins and extends his hand again to detach one of her hands from her face to bring it down. Hand and hand meet, and he has both of their fingers interlock, her fingers burning against the familiarity of his touch. Lucy couldn't help but expel an air out of her lungs, thinking this must mean something, considering he’d done it with so much care and so much ease. Like it's some sort of sign he’s sending her so she gets the hint. But then again, she knows not to get her hopes too high when it comes to him.

Natsu furrows his brows as she stands up, levelling up to him. “Hey, Luce, are you sure you’re okay?”

Lucy tries to replicate the expression he displays, attempting to look just as lost. “Of course, I am okay.”

“Then why are ya squeezing my hand so tight for?” He demands, tilting his head. “You’ll break my fingers, ya know?”

Lucy gulps and tries to retract it, but this time, it’s Natsu that gives her hand a squeeze and doesn’t let go, bringing it closer to him instead - closer to his warmth. He probably thinks she isn't feeling well after all, since she tends to squeeze his arm whenever she feels nervous. 

Perhaps he's thinking that.

“Hey Natsu, don't you think I have gained some strength?” Lucy comments nervously, trying to deviate him from that track of thought and squeezes his hand a little harder, playing it off as something else. But he doesn’t even wince, blinking down at her with an air of curiosity and wonder. “I have been training a lot these days.”

"Yeah, kind of." Natsu says, shooting an oblivious smile in Lucy's way and shows off his fangs before he let go of her hand to flop down on the bed. 

Lucy sighs and shakes her head. Her eyes bore into Natsu’s. “You have your own house to sleep in.”

Natsu laughs as he spreads his arms and legs across the bed, resembling a starfish. “I know, but I would rather be here.”

“Why?”

“Because everything is more fun with you.”

Lucy falls silent, and whatever that sat in her tongue dissipated. It’s not like she doesn’t want to give him an answer, she does, more than anything, but it _ shouldn’t _ be this hard to provide him with one after he'd said similar words to her in many occasions in the past. She shrugs her shoulders, walks up to the window to close up the curtains and joins him on the bed, pulling the blanket over their bodies. Happy just watches them in silence, and Lucy notices his face morphing into something she doesn’t quite like, feeling the heat she'd tried so hard to suppress creep up her cheeks. Natsu couldn’t be any more unaware of his surroundings, sighing in contentment as he latches onto the warmth of the blanket and welcomes it with merriment.

Happily brings his paws to his face to hide the giggle that's on the verge of exposing itself and announces his short departure to the guild before he flies out the window.

“What’s his problem?” Natsu raises his head from the pillow to take a glance.

“Doesn’t matter,” Lucy sighs, moving around to find herself a comfortable position to sleep in. “Let’s just get some rest for now.”

Neither of them exchange a word for a solid few minutes after that, the only sounds being heard in the room being the ones of the sheets shuffling and shifting under their weight. Lucy turns around then, and comes face to face with his back and broad shoulders, resisting the urge to reach forward and to trace her fingers on it, curious to know how her fingers would feel against his back. But she knows he hasn’t fallen asleep yet, since he tends to snore once he does, the sounds reverberating and bouncing across the four walls.

So she tries, tired of taking refuge behind what she feels, tired of the words sitting at the tip of her tongue and on the verge of retching.

“Can I ask you something?”

She then hears him shift in her bed, but that’s about the end of it. Nothing follows. Knowing how Natsu tends to be, he wouldn’t say a thing, considering how serious she must have sounded saying those words she comes to conclude, so she decides to continue with a sheen of sweat coating her fingers and her forehead, ever so faintly glistening because of the sun peaking through the little gap between the curtains.There’s a voice inside her head warning her the question is too risky, and she’s very much aware of that. Part of her thinks it’s best to play it safe and to just avoid the subject as a whole, since there’s a chance he wouldn't reciprocate her feelings and might potentially put a strain on their friendship.

Lucy shakes the thoughts away, pushing the voices to the back of her mind and takes a deep breath, shifting just an inch closer to him. “Natsu, remember the talk we’ve had after the fight with Alvarez and Acnologia?”

“Course I do.”

She hesitates for a second before she continues, fighting her shaky fingers. “And remember when you said you wanted us to be together forever?” She inquires. “What did you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I meant.” He finally responds and shifts, turning around in order to face her properly. “I want us to be together.” He replies flatly, as if that alone is enough to understand, and Lucy stares at him straight on, her heart bubbling in all different shades of colours once she sees the sincere confusion flashing across his face. Despite the seriousness of their conversation, she can’t help but feel her chest shake as she fights back a laugh.

“Together forever as friends?” She adds at last, the amusement inside her chest ebbing away.

Natsu falters, obviously taken aback with the sudden question. He awkwardly furrows his beautifully arched brows and averts his gaze elsewhere, rubbing the back of his head as he muses, which she must admit is a rarity by itself. He then shuffles, the uneasiness that was clearly apparent on his countenance disappearing as fast as the gust of wind. He grabs one of her hands that hid beneath the heavy blanket and holds onto it, giving it a little squeeze.

“Lucy,” he begins and reluctantly leans forward to press their foreheads together. Her throat hitches. “You’re the only person I want to stay forever with,” he says, the tonality he uses so serious she feels goosebumps arise all over her body because of it. “I want us to grow old together." He places a hand at the back of her head to rest it against his chest and wraps both of his arms around her waist, tightening the grip.

Lucy closes her eyelids and faintly smiles. It's enough. The answer he gave was more than enough. 

She isn’t stuck in the maze anymore, his feelings for her clear as the crystals, and the clouds separate and go in different directions to let the sun blaze its glory.

“I am glad,” she holds back a sob. Both out of relief and happiness. “Then I am so glad.”


End file.
